Thank you, Mr. Chair. Language limitations, unilingual people, that is one of the criteria for an escort, a non-medical escort when needed. If an individual is unilingual or has some limited capacity, they're certainly eligible for one. From time to time, I have heard of individual situations where somebody who met that criteria was not approved an escort. We do have an appeal mechanism now that was not available to us before, so they can challenge the decisions of medical travel staff if they feel that they have not been properly assessed. We just continually need to hammer, and hammer, and hammer on everybody that there is an appeal mechanism. If you have a question or concern, utilize that so that we can make sure you get a medical escort. Language is one of our criteria. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Mr. Nakimayak.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I appreciate the response. More just a comment: I look forward to seeing what the information on the appeal mechanism, as sometimes this happens on weekends when sometimes the service is not available. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Nakimayak. Minister Abernethy.

Noted, Mr. Chair, and we are always looking for opportunities for quality improvement. If you have got individuals who are willing to flag that, please have them flag it so that we can include it and take it from anecdotal to reality so that we can move forward on that.

I guess when it comes to language, the only recommendation I would have for individuals who wish to have non-medical escort as a result of language barriers is do not also take a unilingual person with them. Try to find someone who is bilingual. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Next, we have, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I just have one question on medical travel: is that 100 per cent of the budget that we have here in front of us? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It doesn't include GNWT staff in that number. GNWT staff are covered by the Department of Health and Social Services as opposed to the Department of Health. They are covered by Human Resources instead of Health and Social Services. There are some revenues that come in that are not here as well, but total costs are a bit higher. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Any further questions, Mr. Beaulieu? Thank you. Next, we have Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just to go back to medical travel in regard to it being opened up, or it is going to be opening up, I guess, for competition again for it to be contracted out. Is the department looking at local businesses as well, local airlines, or are they just focused on the main ones like Canadian North, First Air, and Air Tindi? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I believe we have a contract with the travel agent who books the flights, but we do have a Standing Offer Agreement with Canadian North and First Air, so the travel agent's requirement is to book on those two. Occasionally if there's some unforeseen circumstance or other driving issues, we can go to Air Canada or WestJet, but our Standing Offer Agreement says first and foremost Canadian North and First Air.

Thank you, Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My deputy just pointed out that I completely answered a completely different question, so this time I'll try to answer the question that the Member asked. When this service agreement ends we're certainly open to exploring what is best for the people of the Northwest Territories including, as I said to the MLA from Hay River, other airlines, other opportunities to help control costs and provide the best services to the clients possible. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for his answer. I was going to ask a different question when you answered that other one, but I greatly appreciate hearing that. Are you looking at regionalizing medical travel or does it have to be the global territory picture? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for his answer. Yes, I was talking about medical travel because I'm looking at, in my riding, there are a couple of airplanes that are actually suitable for flying doctors, nurses, and MLAs, twin engines and that. So the question was asked, and so I'm glad to hear that. In regard to this medical travel and when you talked about the medevacs, is that part of this medical travel in this contract, this money in here? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The air ambulance is in here, as well, the annual costs, and as Mr. Beaulieu was asking: is this the total amount? Like I said, no, this isn't the total amount. A bunch of it is offset by NIHB, who can be charged back travel. So the actual cost over a year not including GNWT employees is about $41 million, but this is the amount we require to cover our portion that isn’t offset by other things. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. I see nothing further by Mr. Thompson. I have Mr. O'Reilly.